About the CEnR Partnership Development Voucher Award
The purpose of the UMB ICTR Community Engaged Research (CEnR) Partnership Development Voucher Award is to support the preparatory work of developing a sustainable community partnership, identifying the research question, and laying the foundation for a future CEnR grant opportunity to address the health needs of our community. Please note that the Partnership Development Voucher funds are not to be used to conduct research.
Applications Accepted Quarterly (February, March, August, and November)
Deadline: Quarterly: Friday, February 6, May 1, August 7, and November 6, 2026 by 5:00 PM EST
Eligibility: Faculty at the level of Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, or Professor with a minimum 51% FTE appointment from University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB), University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), or University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP). New: UMBC and UMCP applications are encouraged to include a UMB Co-PI.
Budget: Up to $10,000 in Direct costs for 18 months. Funding is through the ICTR CEnR Partnership Development Voucher Mechanism.
Notice of Award: 6-8 weeks after application deadline.
CEnR Partnership Development Voucher Award Description
Description:
This ICTR CEnR Voucher Award is specifically for developing a successful and sustainable community partnership(s) in the Maryland and/or District of Columbia (DC) area. The purpose of this award is to prepare for a future, competitive ICTR CEnR pilot grant proposal or other extramural CEnR-type pilot grant applications. Please note that CEnR Partnership Development Award funds CANNOT be used for the purpose of conducting research with a population(s) of interest.
Typically, CEnR-type pilot grant applications are expected to have an existing community partnership in place that has worked together to identify a population of interest and a research question. This CEnR Voucher award is specifically for that purpose. Activities supported by this CEnR Voucher award include the following:
- Developing a community-academic research partnership(s) infrastructure (e.g., advisory boards, partnership roles and responsibilities, policies and procedures, memorandums of understanding). Eligible community partners include non-profits such as community service organizations, advocacy groups, neighborhood associations, faith-based organizations, or coalitions, public agencies, and private organizations within the State of Maryland and District of Columbia.
- Facilitating formal and informal meetings for partners to identify shared goals, priorities, research interests, and sharing of resources and funding.
- Facilitating open dialogue and bidirectional learning around challenges and opportunities to address community health needs.
- Identify community partner(s) to engage the community to help define the research question.
- Building research capacity for community partners (e.g., Institutional Review Board training to be a member of the panel, training on research design and methods, etc.)
- Building CEnR capacity for academic partners (e.g., principles of community engagement, 10-Step Framework, etc.)
Budget Restrictions:
- Salary Support: Salary support may be included for faculty-level members and research staff (no more than 30% of the budget in total).
- Travel: Up to $1,000 may be used for travel with justification to establish a community partnership. Travel is restricted to Maryland and strict of Columbia (DC) area. CEnR funds cannot be used for travel to present results at established meetings or conferences.
- Other Allowable Expenses: Stipends, supplies, facility use fees, activity costs such as training for community partners, and other expenses required to develop the partnership.
- Unallowable Expenses: Tuition, refreshments, purchase of office or laboratory furniture, phone services, and professional membership fees.
Review:
Applications will be peer-reviewed, evaluated, and scored using the following criteria:
- Relevance to CEnR: Are there clear plans to establish an academic-community partnership to help move a project through to the next step of a future, CEnR-type pilot grant submission?
- Potential for future community and scientific impact, novelty, and merit.
- Feasibility of establishing a sustainable community partnership within 18 months.
- Future extramural funding plans to further expand the community-partnership and CEnR endeavors.
Additional Restrictions for ICTR Voucher Award:
- Cannot be requested to offset expenses in a grant application.
- The voucher award must be exhausted within 18 months of the award date. After 18 months, the remaining voucher award balance will be returned to the funding institution(s)
- Cannot be encumbered for future use or transferred to another project, researcher, or expense.
- Limited to one voucher award per faculty per 18 months. Subsequent applications will not be accepted if prior awarded project not completed.
- Limited to one voucher award per project.
- The Lead PI of the project must complete the application and not a surrogate/proxy.
